


the rest of the world was black and white

by 152glasslippers



Series: are we out of the woods [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Pre-Relationship, Reunion Fic, Robbie's been gone too long and Daisy's upset, let men cry 2k18, let's be honest they're both upset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 13:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14672040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/152glasslippers/pseuds/152glasslippers
Summary: Her eyes were red as they searched his.“You knew about Coulson, didn’t you?”She could read it in his eyes, he knew, but she deserved an answer from him, spoken, out loud. No doubt left in her mind.“Yeah.”Post-season 5 AU. After a final confrontation with Talbot—narrowly avoiding disaster and the end of the world—the team takes a few days to regroup at the Lighthouse. That's when Robbie shows up.





	the rest of the world was black and white

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fierysky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fierysky/gifts).



> For Fierysky, who’s been wishing for someone to comfort Daisy since 5x14. Thanks for reaching out to me about that first quakerider fic (a year ago now!) and for all the encouragement, support, and chatting since <3 I hope this fits the bill. 
> 
> (I don’t know how season 5 will end, but because I refuse to accept anything less, I’m pretending it ends with Coulson alive, the world saved, the future changed, and the team still together.)

The Rider decided when, and where, he ended up back on Earth.

If it was up to him, he’d come out in the alleyway three blocks from his house—stepping out of an interdimensional portal in the front yard would definitely make the neighbors talk—and he’d be gone half as long.

When it spat him back out in a large, industrial space he didn’t recognize, Daisy and the rest of the Shield team scattered throughout the room staring at him, he started to think there was a pattern.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been gone this time, but it was obvious they weren’t expecting him. No one said anything, their faces blank with shock. It gave him a minute to focus, the Rider hissing in his head while he scanned their faces, more or less filling him in on what they’d been up to while he was gone. It grew louder when he glanced at the face of a man he’d never met, mouth hanging open almost comically; louder still when he looked at Fitz.

And then his eyes landed on Daisy. The Rider fell quiet again, and Robbie pushed him away completely. He just wanted to see her.

They locked eyes for a minute, and he recognized the storm there. It came tumbling out of her mouth a second later.

“Are you kidding me?” It started out as a murmur, a comment made more to herself than anyone else, her voice echoing across the empty space to reach him. “Are you _kidding_ me?” Louder. She was out from behind the desk now. “Are you _freaking_ kidding me!” Shouting, striding toward him, the anger propelling her forward until she was right in front of him, putting her hands on his chest, shoving him. He let her push him backwards.

“Daisy.” Coulson’s voice, a note of caution, of reproach. Robbie could see him try to take a step forward out of the corner of his eye before Agent May planted herself in front of him, holding him back.

“Where were you?” Daisy yelled. She shoved him again. “Where were you?”

Another push, another step back. He never took his eyes off her.

“Where were you? Where were you? Where _were_ you?”

She had him up against the wall now, her hands still pressed against his chest. The adrenaline seemed to have caught up with her. She was breathing heavily, her eyes filling with tears as if against her will. Her voice this time was at its most vicious, its most volatile, a damn about to break.

“Where. _Were_. You.”

And then it broke.

He watched the tears spill over and then she was crying in earnest, her voice loud and shaking.

“Where were you? Where were you? Where were you?” She was still hitting him, her hands slapping uselessly against his chest, but the question seemed bigger than him now. Like she was asking the universe for an answer.

Her fingers curled into his jacket, and he felt her grip change before her knees buckled and she collapsed against him, the adrenaline leaving her all at once. He bent with her and caught her easily, one hand under each of her legs, lifting her up. She didn’t fight him, her legs winding around his waist instantly, her arms sliding up over his shoulders, threading around his neck almost instinctively.

She buried her face in him, the question gone but the tears still coming, her sobs muffled against his body, her tears bathing his skin.

He turned and carried her from the room without a word, walking blindly, no idea where he was going or where he was taking her, just away.

The base, the bunker—whatever it was—was a maze, and he walked and re-walked the hallways until he found an empty room with a bed, Daisy clinging to him all the while.

He’d walked long enough that she’d started to calm down, eventually crying herself out, but when he knelt down and set her on the edge of the bed, she didn’t let go.

And for once, he let himself give in.

He wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her even closer into him. He felt her fingers reach up and comb through the hair at the nape of his neck, drawing herself in closer, too.

Robbie pressed his face into her hair, breathed in the clean scent of it. His car had still smelled like her from the day she’d driven it when he grabbed it from that warehouse in Delaware, like the memory of her presence alone had been enough to ward off anyone tempted to drive it.

“I’m sorry, Daisy.” His voice sounded cracked, rusted, the first time he’d used it in months, the first words he wanted to say to her when he saw her again.

He heard her inhale sharply in the same instant he felt her fingers tighten against him again. Her grip loosened in the next second, and he felt her start to pull away from him, her legs uncrossing behind his back, her arms unwinding from around his shoulders. He let her go, far enough to sit up straight, look him in the eye. But she stayed close, her legs falling to either side of him, her hands straying to his forearms. He moved his hands to the bed, thumbs just grazing her outer thighs. He couldn’t completely break the connection, not now, not after being gone this long.

Her eyes were red as they searched his.

“You knew about Coulson, didn’t you?”

She could read it in his eyes, he knew, but she deserved an answer from him, spoken, out loud. No doubt left in her mind.

“Yeah.”

She closed her eyes against the word, grimacing like it caused her pain to hear it.

It probably did.

“He asked you not to say anything, didn’t he?”

“Not exactly like I jumped at the chance to be the one to tell.”

Her eyes flashed open, and she levelled him with a glare.

Too soon for sarcasm, then.

“You should have told me,” she scolded.

“Daisy…”

“No,” she snapped, the same fire in her eyes as the first night they met. “You should have told me. Next time, you tell me.”

“There’s not gonna be a next time,” he said fiercely, suddenly as serious as she was. Rising up to meet her challenge, like always.

“I don’t care. You tell me. _Me_ , Robbie.”

They were getting dangerously close to this thing between them, her words skirting the edge of whatever it was that always had them racing after each other or showing up at the same place at the same time. The thing that meant he always looked to her whenever something happened; that meant he trusted her implicitly now, no matter where they’d started, no matter how long they’d known each other. It was the closest either of them had ever come to acknowledging it.

So he nodded, because he knew what she meant, even if he couldn’t explain it.

“Okay, chica.”

Something in her eyes lightened at the nickname, a flash of memory of where this all started, before they dimmed again, like she was remembering how long ago that had been, how long he’d been away this time.

“Where were you?” she whispered. Not an accusation, a question. Quiet. Concerned.

Robbie tensed involuntarily. His jaw clenched, and her eyebrows furrowed in response.

“As bad as last time?”

He held himself perfectly still under her gaze, his eyes locked on hers. There were no words for it. Not that he could find right now. Her eyes fell flat at his silence, the line of her mouth dropping.

“Worse then,” she said, answering her own question.

She looked at him, and he saw all his sadness reflected back at him: sadness for him, for her. For all the things they’d suffered apart, all the ways they couldn’t save each other.

His eyes shifted to her neck. He lifted a hand to the ends of her hair, but she stopped him, her fingers circling his wrist.

“Not with these.” She pulled at the strap of his glove, and he followed her lead, tugging each one off and dropping them onto the bed beside her.

His left hand brushed hers as it came to rest against her thigh again, his right hand reaching up to push her hair over her shoulder, delicately, gently.

The bandage was plain, square, a couple of inches wide on each side. He studied it for a minute, trying to keep the anger in check. Not the Rider’s, but his. Daisy was watching him closely, carefully, and she didn’t need his anger. She needed his comfort.

It was reassuring to know he was apparently still capable of giving it.

“Do you know what happened?” Her voice was unsteady.

He looked back at her. “I know enough.”

She nodded, her eyes filling with tears again. She pursed her lips, closed her eyes against them. One tear tracked down her cheek, then another.

He wrapped her up again, leaning into her, closing his arms around her and pressing his face to hers, careful to avoid the bandage. He had a second to regret crossing into her space before he felt her arms around his shoulders, her fingers digging into his back.

“I’ve got you,” he told her, voice low, speaking almost directly into her ear.

He couldn’t be there then, and of all the things in his life he felt guilty about, it wasn’t one of them. He knew it wasn’t his fault or his responsibility—his responsibility had lay somewhere else—but somehow, this time, that made it worse. He wished he could have made her his priority.

Hell, as it turned out, was a great place to come to grips with the ones who really mattered.

And Daisy was one of them.

He let out a shaky breath, and she pulled back to look him in the eye, holding him by the shoulders, tense with worry.

And then she relaxed, and all that was left was something that resembled…affection. Her fingertips were soft as they swept across his cheek, and he realized he was crying.

Daisy looked at him with sad eyes and held his face in both her hands.

“I’ve got you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
